The Beguiling and Vertical Inc. present
Konami Kanata at TCAF 2012
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival welcomes the renowned creator of Chi’s Sweet Home manga!
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2012
At The Toronto Reference Library,789 Yonge Street
Saturday, May 5th, 9am-5pm
Sunday May 6th, 11am-5pm
Free Admission
WWW.TORONTOCOMICS.COM
TORONTO, Ontario– The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) is excited to announce that internationally renowned manga creator Konami Kanata, author of the New York Times Bestselling Manga Chi’s Sweet Home, will appear at TCAF 2012 on May 5th and 6th! Kanata will make her first-ever North American appearance at TCAF 2012 in support of Chi’s Sweet Home, and she will be on panels, signing books, and participating in a special benefit fundraiser for the Tokhoku Region of Japan, still hard-hit following the great earthquake and tidal wave in March of last year. Kanata appears with the support of her North American publisher Vertical Inc., and TCAF sponsor The Beguiling Books & Art.
“Kanata-sensei’s work is really wonderful,” says TCAF Director Christopher Butcher. “While Chi’s Sweet Home is, on the surface, a series about an adorable kitten, in Japan it runs in a somewhat-edgy magazine aimed at adult men and women. The stories have a surprising resonance. While kids have immediately taken to this cute little Japanese cat, Kanata-sensei’s skill really makes these stories unique, and even occasionally profound. It will be an honour to meet her.”
Konami Kanata is a 25+ year veteran of Japan’s manga industry, with dozens of volumes of work that have sold millions of copies, and the characters of Chi’s Sweet Home alone have been adapted into two daily animated TV series, a number of merchandise lines, and even video games! Chi’s Sweet Home was also nominated for the Best Youth Comic Award at the Angouleme Festival in 2011. 8 volumes of Chi’s Sweet Home have been published in English by Vertical Inc., 7 of which are New York Times Bestsellers.
“Ms. Kanata was interested in coming to TCAF to meet all of her many North American fans, and to speak in support of the devastated Tohoku region of Japan,” continued Butcher. “This is also a very important cause to me personally, and so we are planning a number of initiatives including a special evening event to help raise funds on the weekend of TCAF.”
Konami Kanata will appear at TCAF on Saturday May 5th and Sunday May 6th 2012, at Toronto Reference Library. She will have a signing session each day at the Vertical Inc. booth, and will participate in programming each day. In addition, Ms. Kanata will be participating in a special event supporting the Tohoku Region, on the evening of Saturday May 5th, with details to follow.
ABOUT KONAMI KANATA
Short Biography:
A manga artist with almost thirty years of experience, Konami Kanata has focused much of her career on creating accessible comics that star cats! A mother of one, Ms. Kanata is also a cat owner, and it is the kittenhood of her own beloved kitty Pea that has been the model for Chi, the heroine of Chi’s Sweet Home.
Konami Kanata debuted in 1982 with Petit Kitty Jam-Jam in Kodansha legendary girl’s comic anthology Nakayoshi. Since then she has penned more than a dozen comics, most of them with a pet theme. Chi’s Sweet Home has spun-off two daily animated TV series and a number of merchandise lines. It would also eventually become Morning’s first New York Times Best Seller in 2010, a feat the series would achieve seven times since. In 2012 Konami Kanata was nominated for the Best Youth Comic Award at the Angouleme International Comics Festival.
Key Works:
Chi’s Sweet Home: During a feline family outing, Chi, a young and excitable kitten, finds herself separated from her mother and siblings! Once she realizes she’s lost, Chi finds that there are lots of scary things out there, like big barking dogs and speeding cars. Frightened, Chi scurries away to a nearby park. While crying in the park, she runs into a family of three—The Yamadas. The Yamadas decide to take Chi into their home, despite the fact that their apartment complex has a strict no-pets policy!
It is here where Chi starts a new life in a new home. Between exciting adventures around town, discovering new tasty treats, and generous helpings of cute kitten antics, Chi’s Sweet Home is sure to brighten anyone’s day. Whether you’re an adult cat lover who just can’t get enough of adorable kitten eccentricities, or a kid who just loves cute animals, Chi is for you! More: http://www.chisweethome.net/
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